Bundesliga Banter: Backstage in Bavaria

A clash between Manchester United and Bayern Munich will inevitably bring back a flood of memories from a fateful day in May 1999, a day Bayern fans pretend never happened, a day United fans treasure for the remainder of their lives. That tie will be resurrected in a few days time when United face Bayern in the quarter-finals of the Champions League. A Bayern team who sneaked past Fiorentina with a few dodgy decisions will attempt to prove to the world that they are on par with Europe's best, while a United side that were rampant against Milan will try to reach their third successive European Cup Final.

Franz Beckenbauer, the Kaiser himself, is fearful of the lethal Wayne Rooney. But do Bayern fans feel the same way? Read on to find out...

Sir Alex was honored with a knighthood for winning the Treble​

1. Owen Hargreaves was not a stranger to injury when he played for Bayern Munich. After a successful first season at Manchester United, he suffered perhaps the worst injury of his career which has kept him out of the game for nearly two years. Do you think Hargreaves can stage a successful comeback and reignite a career that has been plagued with injuries? Or are his best days behind him?

eddinanM3 - Owen Hargreaves as you stated had an issue with injuries before Manchester United acquired him and had an even worse one while at United that has been extremely difficult to come back from, and at this point it would be anybody guess to say what will become of him. Yes, he is a very talented CDM and was one Bayern's best, but time and age makes it very hard to regain form and the odds of him being what he once was on the pitch isn't high at all. Can he play again for United, sure he can, but I don't think you are ever going to see him make as big of an impact as he did in years past. Also, how long can he last before another inury occurs is another thing that has to be on SAF's mind!

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Aequitas1987 - Hargreaves is capable of coming back to his usual form even after such a long injury and that is solely because of one attribute that he possesses: his mentality. Players like Rosicky and Eduardo, when out for ages, came back and have yet to regain their top form (but are slowly getting there). It's not the same with Hargreaves because he has the intelligence and the mentality to reach his old form fairly quickly. He was never speedy so a lack of speed wont affect his core game, which is to orchestrate the defence and combine it with the midfield.

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2. Manchester United and Bayern Munich have met competitively in Europe on seven occasions, with United winning one and Munich winning two. However, United seem to be getting better while Bayern do not seem to be the force they once were. What do you attribute this to?

eddinanM3 - Manchester United have had a great run in the Ronaldo era and have made it to the finals of the CL twice and have had tremendous success in the EPLas well. It would be hard to improve much on what they have done recently and I am sure the quality of the EPL has been a big part of it. Also, there has been one constant at United that can't be overlooked and that is SAF as manager. The consistency that SAF has brought to United is amazing, and he is the glue that holds the puzzle together and keeps the engine running at a very high RPM! Bayern instead have been on a carousel of managers in recent years and it has definately taken its toll on the team and its success in the Bundesliga and even more so in the Champions League. Part of this is the board's own fault for not being patient and trying to always impose their own will on the club through the manager. Bayern don't work on the same budget that Man chester United do and don't spend as much (and aren't in debt either and in the long run are more financially stable), but that also limits how much we can spend on acquiring new players!

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Aequitas1987 - I think this is an indirect effect of the money flowing into the EPL-- not directly into Manchester United but their key rivals. This consecutively makes the EPL more competitive and this directly results in Manchester United becoming more competitive themselves. There is a reason that the semi-finals of CL have been primarily compromised of EPL clubs. Combine that with the consistency of Ferguson, Giggs, and key stars such as Ronaldo and Rooney, and you inevitably have a successful reign. Although the Bundesliga is improving considerably year by year and is on the brink eclipsing Serie A next season, it still has a ways to go before it is on the same level of competitiveness as the EPL.

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3. General consensus seems to be that this Quarter Final is effectively a Semi Final, with the winner being favorites to progress to the Final against French opposition. How confident would you be about progression to the Final should you defeat United, noting that Bordeaux defeated you twice in the group stages. Furthermore, who would you prefer to face should you progress?

eddinanM3 - If Bayern are able to progress past Manchester United to the semis against Bordeaux the consenus would be win win situation, because not only would we have gotten past a very difficult opponent in United, but we would have an encouter with a French side that we have already played twice and have something to prove against. Bayern was far from full strength in either encounter with Bordeaux as Ribery and Robben didn't play, and Van Buyten and Muller were red carded for the second leg. Bayern weren't on form for either match as van Gaal was still toying with the lineup and trying to figure the team out and his personnel out. I am sure there would be a lot of motivation on Bayern's part to make amends for the previous group phase losses!

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Aequitas1987 - I think this would be a big mistake. I have watched as Bordeaux taught Bayern a lesson in ABC football even though we were still in our transformative stage under van Gaal. Bordeaux is not a team to be underestimated. If they make it past Lyon, they are not going to let United or Bayern go through to the finals easily. They have a major game changing player in Gourcouff.

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Element - I would like us to play vs Lyon, because Bordeaux are inhuman from set pieces, and our defense is not the best in the Europe because the LB position is always been played by a bad player (even worse than United's RB position). So With this defense we are too vulnerable to set pieces, because we have 1 player less doing the covering job. Lyon, on the other hand, plays more classic football in my opinion. Free kicks are mostly shots on goal, they pass, they just dont have an identified style of play. They play football from the "Common Tactics book" so we will be able to handle them.

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"Manchester United have reached the promised land!"​

4. Do you think Ribery will leave this summer? If so, where?

eddinanM3 - Yes, I do think that Ribery will leave this summer as this season has been too much of a soap opera for Bayern with all the talk from him or his agent about Real Madrid and wanting this or that. It hasn't been good for the team and you can see that Ribery's play has suffered as well, partially from the inconsistent play because of injuries and partially because his heart is not 100% at Bayern anymore. The whole saga reminds me of Ronaldo a few years ago. Bayern can and will survive Ribery because the young players that have been intergrated this season have already made a mark and more are coming this summer.

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Aequitas1987 - 100%. He will leave and go to Chelsea. This is because it's the only club he has considering looking at in England; secondly they are intending to spend a $100 million this summer and ideally it would also be the best scenario for Bayern as we will be able to get some leftovers in the form of Zhirkov/Bosingwa or Alex who we desperately need.

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5. In Robben and Ribery, Louis van Gaal has 2 of the most formidable wingers in world football. Is there any other team in Europe who can boast such a partnership?

eddinanM3 - No, I don't think that any other team in Europe has that level of talent in their wingers when they are on form and I think that is pretty plain to see, but that doen't mean that they are going to decide the outcome of every game they play in. They are a part of the puzzle, an important part for Bayern, but the other parts of the team have to be up to the same level of play also, otherwise they don't work together smoothly as a unit! It takes 11 people to win consistently not just one or two.

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Aequitas1987 - Barcelona with Xavi - Iniesta. Robbery (ribbon?) are to wingers what Xavi-Iniesta are to CM's.

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6. With the departure of Lucio last summer, Louis van Gaal has yet to cement a solid defensive partnership in Bayern's line-up. How do you think your defense will cope with the in-form Rooney.

eddinanM3 - The leaving of Lucio has not held Bayern back this season defensively. Van Buyten had a strong run toward the end of last season and was primed for the start this season and it showed as his play in the first half of the season was splendid. The injury to Demichelis allowed LVG to experiment and he found a young player in Badstuber who was very able to do the job. Unfortunately, the acquisitions that were made for LB during the summer were not up to par for what Bayern needed and that became a problem spot at the start of the season. When Demichelis returned from injury to the CB spot and Bayern moved Badstuber to LB, the back four played some very solid football for quite a stretch, even though Badstuber was playing out of position. Overall, Bayern are better this season than they were last year and the goals against bear this out. The injuries recently have made it more difficult for LVG to field a coheasive unit and are still a problem. Obviously with Rooney on the form of his life, that could lead to problems for Bayern in the back four, and I am sure that is something that SAF would hope to exploit.

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Aequitas1987 - This is our biggest weakness. Without Schweinsteiger, who is better than all our CB's defensively, we are going to leak goals like a sieve. The only salvation I see is playing Tymoschuck as a starting CDM. If LVG does that Tymo can showcase his amazing defensive skills like he did when Zenit took on Manchester United in the summer. Selling Lucio was not that big of a problem as not buying a replacement. The key against United would not be to suffocate and double up on Rooney. It would be to double up on his suppliers who are Valencia/Nani &amp; Park. Without any crosses, Rooney wont be fed.

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Solskjaer wins the treble for Manchester United​

7. Do you still feel any resentment towards Manchester United after that defeat in 1999, or was victory in 2001 enough to quench your thirst for revenge?

eddinanM3 - The loss in '99 was a very difficult thing to take and to understand. You feel cheated even though you really weren't. Manchester United will always be a very big rival for Bayern just because of the similarities between the two in their respective Leagues and that isn't going to change. Just as England and Germany are big rivals in the World Cup, so are United and Bayern in club play! And no, 2001 was not enough to satisfy our thirst, can you ever win enough CL titles? I don't think so!

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Aequitas1987 - That feeling will never go away. There will always be resentment even though it was highly satisfying to come back two years later and win it all with the near same line-up. Encountering so many obnoxious Manchester United fans doesn't help and only fuels the rivalry. I second the motion, you can never win too many CL's.

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8. Starting XI predictions?

Butt

Altintop - van Buyten - Badstuber - Lahm

Robben - Tymoschuck - van Bommel - Ribery

Muller - Klose

If Robben is out injured:

Butt

Altintop - van Buyten - Badstuber - Lahm

Muller - Tymoschuck - van Bommel - Ribery

Olic - Klose​

And finally, I was left with a bit of mind games...

"Whatever lineup we go in with, We MUST NOT score early and awaken the sleeping beast. We seem to play the worst after scoring an early goal this season and it has shown time and again, Frankfurt, Schalke.... On the other hand, when the opponent scores first we tend to do amazing. That's why I prefer scoring in the second half. If we survive the first half 0-0 then I could see us having a chance. A small one at that."
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I personally don't care if we score in the first minute or the last. In fact, I wouldn't even mind two injury time goals..

Good job askabob. Good questions, and nice to see the kind of answers Bayern fans give us.

"Without any crosses, Rooney wont be fed." I can't agree with that though, as I said before, they can double play Nani Valencia, and Park, Rooney will still have at least 2-3 chances, that's what has made him what he is this season.

It's always nice to get an insight into how the opposition supporters are thinking and feeling before such a big game. They seem quite level headed and hopeful of their chances. It should be a great tie but I believe we can do this. We seem to have acquired a certain amount of proficiency in Europe over the past few seasons.